The Harvard men's soccer team is suspended for the rest of the season after administrators discovered the team took part in a sexist ritual that involved "ranking" members of the school's women's soccer team. An investigation by the Harvard Crimson uncovered that in a tradition referred to as the "scouting report," male players allegedly used lewd descriptions to evaluate each new female recruit by her physical traits. A pages-long document assigned degrading numerical scores to each individual female player, accompanied by photos and a paragraph assessing her appearance in vile terms. The documents were then circulated among the team via email. In a 2012 edition of the "report" acquired by the Crimson, male players also assigned each woman a "preferred sex position" and a cruel nickname.

While the Crimsonreport makes it clear that this ritual has been part of Harvard soccer since at least 2012, further investigation revealed that the tradition has continued into the 2016 season. Upon learning about the ritual, athletics director Bob Scalise ended the team's season early. The soccer team was set to play two more games in the regular season, which they'll now forfeit. The team will also forfeit any opportunity to be in Ivy League championships or NCAA tournaments this year.

According to CNN, Scalise told students that the decision was made because current players "were not immediately forthcoming about their involvement" in the ritual. "We strongly believe that this immediate and significant action is absolutely necessary if we are to create an environment of mutual support, respect, and trust among our students and our teams," he reportedly told Harvard athletes in an email. "Harvard Athletics has zero tolerance for this type of behavior."

In a statement, Harvard president Drew Faust supported Scalise's actions and insisted that the decision "reflects Harvard's view that both the team's behavior and the failure to be forthcoming when initially questioned are completely unacceptable, have no place at Harvard, and run counter to the mutual respect that is a core value of our community."

Harvard administrators seem to be determined to prevent such behavior in the future. The athletics department put a plan in place to work closely with the school's Office of Sexual Assault Prevention and Response to make it clear to athletes that assault and harassment are never acceptable. While it's deeply upsetting that a ritual like the soccer team's existed to begin with, it's encouraging to see an institution taking steps to ensure that all students, male and female, may feel more comfortable on campus in the future.

Last week, six of the female soccer players mentioned in the 2012 "scouting report" wrote a joint op-ed in the Crimson about their experience. In the piece, Kelsey Clayman, Brooke Dickens, Alika Keene, Emily Mosbacher, Lauren Varela, and Haley Washburn revealed that many of the men who authored the "report" were people they considered close friends. They explained that upon discovering how they were described in the document, they were saddened but not surprised.

"The sad reality is that we have come to expect this kind of behavior from so many men, that it is so 'normal' to us we often decide it is not worth our time or effort to dwell on," they wrote. "More than anything, we are frustrated that this is a reality that all women have faced in the past and will continue to face throughout their lives. We feel hopeless because men who are supposed to be our brothers degrade us like this." They make a strong and painful point. Most women have had at least one experience with this type of degrading behavior, whether it was directed at them or someone they know—and that's not okay. Here's hoping that disciplinary actions like Harvard's send a message, and take us one small step closer to a world in which women feel safer.